Join us on Sunday 25th June 7-9pm for a joyously juicy panel on the place of queer characters and plots within the romance genre, featuring Bryan Moriarty, Lily London, Tufayel Ahmed and Julie Cohen.
We'll be discussing love, literature and the recent explosion in LGBTQ+ romance and rom-coms, a phenomenon described by queer journalist Ella Braidwood as "a new wave of authors releasing uplifting queer literature that casts its characters as the heroes of their lives – not the victims."
About the authors:
Bryan Moriarty (he/him) is a writer, screenwriter and performer hailing from Dublin. His first novel, 'Sounds Like Fun' - a warm and bittersweet romantic comedy about love, loneliness, coffee and the pitfalls of an ill-advised selfie - was selected for the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair 2021. In addition to performing in theatre, film and TV, he has written and produced several short films, plays and a web series.
Lily Lindon (she/they) is a writer and editor living in London. They studied English Literature at Cambridge University, where they were involved with the Footlights comedy group. She was an Editor at Vintage before joining the creative writing school The Novelry. She is the author of the hugely acclaimed romcoms 'Double Booked' and 'My Own Worst Enemy'.
Tufayel Ahmed (he/him) is an award-winning journalist, author and lecturer who has written for CNN, Newsweek, The Independent, The Big Issue and more, and is currently entertainment editor at Insider. Tufayel’s debut novel, 'This Way Out', was published in July 2022 (and launched here at The Common Press!).
Julie Cohen (she/her) is an award-winning author whose novels have sold over a million copies worldwide. She is a Vice President of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, a founder of the RNA Rainbow Chapter for LGBTQ+ writers, and a Patron of literacy charity ABC To Read. She won the 2020 Romantic Novelists’ Association Inclusion Award. Her bestselling novel 'Together' has been translated into eleven languages and optioned for television. 'The Two Lives of Louis and Louise' was long-listed for the Polari Prize and has been optioned by Enderby Entertainment as a feature film. Her latest novel is 'Summer People' (Orion, 2022).
Books by all the authors will be available to buy on the night. This event will take place in our bar area and will be fully wheelchair accessible with step free access and a disabled toilet.